Cincinnati Reds Press Clippings November 14, 2015 THIS DAY IN REDS HISTORY 1889 - Cincinnati is granted re-admission to the National League. MLB.COM Young Reds pitchers familiar with Riggins New coach worked as club's Minor League pitching coordinator By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com / [email protected] / @m_sheldon CINCINNATI -- Heading into next season, the Reds have a pitching staff full of young pitchers and question marks about who might fill the various roles. Their new pitching coach, Mark Riggins, has a big advantage in one respect. The organization's Minor League pitching coordinator the past four seasons, Riggins has seen or worked with most of the pitchers currently on Cincinnati's roster. "My familiarity hopefully makes the transition between those guys and myself pretty easy," Riggins said. "The guys that have come through the system kind of understand already what I'm all about so that helps out a lot." Riggins, who will turn 59 on Jan. 3, attended Murray State University, where he met his future wife, Tammie. They live in Murray, Ky., approximately five hours from Cincinnati. He has spent most of his career on the development side of baseball. From 1996-2007, Riggins was the Cardinals' pitching coordinator and worked there for Walt Jocketty, who is now the Reds' president of baseball operations. Riggins also held the same role for the Cubs from 2008-10. As a pitcher for five seasons in the Cardinals' system, Riggins reached Triple-A in 1983 but got no further. His brief stints in the big leagues came as a pitching coach for the Cardinals in 1995 and the Cubs in 2011. During his career, he's worked under some of the game's more respected pitching coaches -- Dave Duncan for the Cardinals, Larry Rothschild for the Cubs and Bryan Price on the Reds. Price, of course, is now Cincinnati's manager. "We have to develop our pitchers at the Major League level. We felt he was best suited to help in the development process," Jocketty said. "In Mark -- along with [bullpen coach] Mack Jenkins and Bryan Price -- we have three excellent guys that can develop them at the Major League level." Riggins has seen many of the pitchers he's worked with over the years reach their goals of making it to the Major Leagues. He's taken great pride in helping them. "I'm a coach, but you have to be a good teacher," Riggins said. "I take a lot of time with these guys and invest a lot of time with them, and care about the guys. When you see guys move up, succeed and get to the big leagues, you get a lot of gratification from that." Success was hard to come by in 2015 for several Reds pitchers, in part because of injuries but especially after the July trades of Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake. That left an all-rookie rotation to finish the season and an overtaxed bullpen to help fill the innings. From July 29 to the end of the season, the 5.46 ERA posted by the Reds' rotation was the highest in the Majors. There were bright spots with Anthony DeSclafani and Raisel Iglesias, who should be locks for the 2016 rotation. Michael Lorenzen, John Lamb, Jon Moscot, Brandon Finnegan and others will compete for the remaining spots. Veteran Homer Bailey is expected back from Tommy John surgery in May. The club could also sign a veteran starter who can eat innings. "It gives us some options there," Riggins said. "Ultimately, some of those guys will have to go into the bullpen or back to Triple-A once we make those decisions in Spring Training." Although several pitchers took their lumps while pressed into service at the big league level, Riggins believes there will be benefits from the lessons learned. "Some of the guys have a head start in their development," Riggins said. "They could go home this winter, analyze themselves at what they did while in Cincinnati and make some adjustments for what they need to work on and fix over the wintertime. It gives some of those guys a big advantage to have gotten some time in up there to sort things out before Spring Training next year." Riggins is excited to be back working in the Major Leagues. It's an opportunity he's hoped would come again. "That was my goal once I left Chicago after 2011," he said. "The older you get, your goals kind of change a little bit. Mine was still to get back to the Major League level. I have confidence in my ability and I still want to work for quite a long time and work with the best guys in the world. It's the ultimate goal and satisfaction." Reds' Blandino rakes in Fall League win Club's No. 7 prospect goes 3-for-4, drives in three runs By Spencer Fordin / MLB.com Alex Blandino knows the hits don't come easy in the Arizona Fall League. Blandino, the No. 7 prospect in Cincinnati's organization according to MLB Pipeline, rapped three hits and notched three RBIs in Peoria's 6-3 victory over Glendale on Friday. Blandino had a two-run triple and an RBI single in the victory, and he raised his average in the Fall League to .204. Prior to Arizona, Blandino batted .294 in 80 games for Class A Daytona and .235 in his first 30 games for Double-A Pensacola. Blandino, who turned 23 on November 6, logged a .364 on-base percentage between his two stops this year, and he said he's impressed by the arms he's seen in Arizona. "The arms are good," he said. "It's some of the best talent the Minor Leagues have to offer. You're not getting too many easy days at the plate where you can just roll it out and get hits. It's good mental practice to know you've got to be completely locked in every at- bat in order to have success." Blandino, a shortstop, was selected by the Reds as the 29th overall pick in the 2014 MLB Draft, and he's steadily progressed through the Minors. He's batted .280 with a .365 on-base percentage in 173 Minor League games, but he's been caught stealing (17) more times than he's successfully stolen a base (16). Blandino stole a base in Friday's game, and he said he's relishing getting extra work in Arizona. "A lot about basestealing is picking a good pitch to go on and getting a good jump," said Blandino of sharpening up his baserunning. "Any time you feel like you're in rhythm with the pitcher and you can get a good jump -- and he's not too quick to the plate -- Rod Barajas, our skipper, gives us the green light. It's kind of on us to have those instincts and take the extra bag if we're comfortable doing so." Blandino, who played his college ball at Stanford University, played more than 100 games in a professional season for the first time this year, but he said he's enjoyed the grind. The Arizona Fall League isn't exhausting, he said, as much as it's energizing to take on a new challenge. "It has been a long season. A lot of games. But it's fun," said Blandino. "You get to play baseball for a living and you know exactly what you're signing up for when you decide to play professional baseball. The weather is great, the team atmosphere is great and we're having a lot of fun out here." CINCINNATI ENQUIRER Longtime Reds scout, cross-checker Jeff Barton dead at 50 By C. Trent Rosecrans / Cincinnati Enquirer / [email protected] / @ctrent During a conversation last month, longtime Reds scout and cross-checker Jeff Barton was looking forward to many things — the Reds’ No. 2 pick next June, the possible election of Trevor Hoffman to the Hall of Fame and joining his father in winning the Scout of the Year Award for the West Region, honoring a lifetime of scouting achievement. Barton, though, died on Thursday at age 50 after battling cancer. “Jeff was a part of the Reds’ family for more than 26 years and touched not only our organization but also the baseball scouting fraternity,” the Reds said in a statement released on Friday. “He made countless contributions to the success of the Reds franchise and was instrumental in the signing of many former and current Reds players. At December’s upcoming Winter Meetings in Nashville, Jeff will be recognized as Scout of the Year for the West Region. Our thoughts and prayers are with wife Karen and daughters Allison, Makenna and Avery.” Barton’s grandfather, Larry Barton Sr., scouted for the Reds, as did his father, Larry Barton Jr., who signed Eric Davis. “You could say I was born into it,” Barton told The Enquirer last month. All three worked for the Reds for years, and the older Bartons were part of building the Big Red Machine and the 1990 Reds. Larry Barton Jr. won the Scout of the Year Award for the West Region in 2004. When Jeff Barton scouted University of Arizona shortstop Trevor Hoffman, he saw a player that couldn’t hit and couldn’t run — but could he ever throw. “He had the best arm I’d ever seen,” Barton recalled more than 25 years later. “When you see someone with those kinds of tools, you don’t go by them.